Adaptive Learning Technology and the recruitment process.

In the last decade online learning technology has grown at a very rapid pace. I have just come back from an exploratory trip to Europe and I am amazed at the advanced learning technology now on offer at a fraction of the cost it was just a few years ago.

Learner Management Systems are really old news. They require expensive IT investment, considerable time investment and usually required expensive consultant support to upload content. All that is a thing of the past now and the development of cloud based computing makes software as a service (SAAS) affordable and convenient.

Adaptive Learning is probably the area that is growing the fastest. This is big data driven and continually takes data from individual learners in order to create uniquely personal learning pathways. Knowledge gaps are quickly identified and course content adapts accordingly using complicated algorithms.

So what does that mean for the student? Corporates? Education? The most significant benefit is the amount of time that can be saved. No longer does a student have to sift through content that they already know. A case study of a large bank in Holland showed a 60% reduction in learning time over normal e learning systems. The pass rate was the same. The cost per module was only 30% of a traditional e learning system and far more people did the course. The implementation of the adaptive learning system resulted in time saved, money saved, improved moral and comparable results.

But what makes this even more exciting is the addition of a knowledge retention system. We all know that learning should be much more than simply going on a course. What is learned needs to be retained and implemented. Adaptive Learning Technology cleverly uses a system of continuous measure to reinforce knowledge retention, whilst at the same time generating data regarding knowledge levels which in turn is used to adjust course content. So in basic terms, learners will be regularly invited to answer questions as part of the process and the next part of their course will be adjusted to suit the results.

In reality, let’s say is costs R2000.00 to send a staff member on a classroom based course for the day. At the end of the course a students’ knowledge levels could be as high as 80%. However it starts to drop off almost immediately and usually within a week or so it is down to about 20%. That means the real value of the course is only about R400.00. If you can keep the knowledge levels up at 80% then the value of the course is R1600. That is definitely a fantastic return on investment if you spend few hundred rand to keep the knowledge levels up.

LA Intronet have been appointed as exclusive partners for one of the world’s leading adaptive learning systems, aNewSpring. This product, endorsed by the Bill Gates Foundation, is easy to use and manage and opens up even more possibilities than I have described above.

Applying this to a recruitment process, it is now very cost effective to create online assessments for applicants to complete before they come in for an interview. These bespoke assessments can be designed specifically for a particular job type or company for less the real cost of wading through a pile of CV’s. Adding to this, successful applicants can go through a company on boarding process even before they start work. Perhaps employment contacts are not offered until there is a prescribed standard achieved, minimizing employment risk. Maybe a company can offer free courses to the unemployed, the results of which can be used in a recruitment catchment process that will identify top students for employment. During employment, using adaptive system and the knowledge retention system can very easily tie into Key Performance targets or be used to flag the need for more training.